Doc Holliday

The last lot of tests included a pancreatic retest which came back as normal. At the time we had her on James Wellbeloved Grain free and the vet wanted to put her on a Hill's diet of some sort. I checked the ingredients and third one was 'wheat', which makes her stools go soft and kind of fluffy, almost like a an ice cream off the ice cream van, if get me. When I said it wouldn't be suitable the vet it would be the lesser of two evils. I told her that wasn't good enough for my dog and did some research. Fortunately, we have a very good pet food supplier and they really know their stuff and were extremely help, not to mention they have the best prices of anyone around or online. Just don't take the vet's words as gospel as they always seem to have their own interests slightly ahead of your own and won't hesitate selling you stuff you don't really need. We ended up narrowing things down to 2 types of raw food. One was Benyfit Natural and the other was Natural Instinct. BN had 80% meat and bone (that's how we found out high bone content binds her up) and NI has 50% tripe and 20% chicken & bone with other foods and minerals making up the rest. Both are low fat and therefore suitable for a dog with pancreatitis. I have to confess that I was starting to panic a bit and was thinking we would have to change her food again but that was before we found she had the roundworm parasite so we are going to wait and see how she goes over the next month. We did that when she first had the signs of pancreatitis last year, thinking she just had a bug of some sort. Chicken and rice should only be used for 2 weeks or so. Any longer you run the risk of them becoming malnourished, at least that's what we were told by the vet.

Fenman, I don't suppose you'd be tempted to sell a couple of young plants would you? After giving up the allotment a few years back I don't have the potting shed and window sill space for me is in the upstairs man cave but has a plethora of items on there already. Mrs H would have an opinion if I tried growing them on another. I usually get mine from a local garden centre and to say they underachieve would be an understatement. We have a direct south facing garden with 6'+ fences each side a nice high wall to the bottom. It is a real sun trap so should be perfect for chillies but I've always put it down to how they've been started off. I count myself successful if I have one that goes from green to yellow.

I'm sure thyroid was one of the test done but I'll double check when I speak to them next. Thank you for the intel

Thank you for questions, lorius. She drinks as and when so I wouldn't say it was a lot. She drank more as a younger dog. She's 13 (a few weeks back now) and she hasn't really suffered that much hair loss. The only place she has really lost it is off her belly and a some round her neck but that's been over years and have put it down to her being an indoor dog. She was spayed after her first season when we got her as we didn't know when her previous one was but she would have been 2.5 maybe 3 from memory.

I'm developing an interest in Korean food and, having done usual rabbit hole of youtube videos, still feel a little uninspired. Last year, Mrs H & I spent our usual week away and we had, in a local pub, Korean spiced chicken wings and they were absolutely delicious. I've found a recipe online but some of the other recipes I've seen seem to want a plethora of exotic veg and ingredients, the kind you may only use every now and then. Does anyone have any experience with Korean food that keeps things quite simple?

Cheers for that Bruno! I'll check them out. Sorry Mice, she can't have too much bone as it binds her right up. To update you though, the Vet has taken a nice wod of cash off Mrs H & myself and has come back with roundworm eggs in her faeces (even though Mrs H worms her religiously). Still, she does scavenge and picks up God knows what given the opportunity and, since buying a water canon some weeks back, local cats looking to drop a pine cone in my back garden are becoming less of a problem. Just have the odd brave (or foolhardy) little *** that fancies his chances. The cheeky beggar (the vet, this is) also said he wanted to do more tests to see if she may have Cushing's Syndrome... for another £440. I've had a read up on this and it seems she has most of the symptoms (bloated belly and weight loss mainly) so have told him we'll hold off and get the roundworm treated first and give it a month to see if she stars to put some weight back on. He still wanted to sell me bloody prescription food. Do they really not make enough money just by being a vet that they need to pile on every possible thing until it feels like they're squeezing your man boob until it's gone purple?

Pancreatitis can be caused by excessive fat in the diet. That's what the original vet put it down to. She was on James Wellbeloved grain free prior to that. I would seriously consider making my own if I could follow a proven recipe. The food she is on is 50% beef tripe, 20% chicken and bone and the remaineder made up of sweet potato, seaweed, etc. The thing is you'd think having a healthy diet like that she would stablise with her weight but I was wondering if it could even be something called 'Rabbit Starvation' which is caused by having too much lean protein in the diet. So we either up the fat and risk setting off pancreatitis again (she lost 5kg in 2 weeks last time) or try something different.

Hi guys, I'm really struggling with this one so your help will be greatly appreciated. I'll keep it as short as I can. I have been looking at tailor made dog food, specifically an outfit called 'Tails', as my dog has been to the vet earlier this week because she has lost another 3kg in the past 3 months. After being diagnosed with Pancreatitis last March/April, she has been on Natural Instict Sensitive raw food as it is low fat and grain free. We added defrosted raw veg to help bulk it up and she seems to like it. We feed her the upper prescribed portion (250g twice a day) but she is struggling to pass stools (but not constipated). The vet wanted to put her on Royal Canin Allergenic as it has hydrolysed protein but has a 16.8% fat content. After doing some research online I ended up looking at the Tails Hypoallergenic food, which is only 7% fat. Some offsite reviews report that it has undefined gravy digest which can upset a dog's digestion. Thank you for taking the time to read and your knowledge and experience will be much appreciated.

I thought maybe it had been hacked and closed by the angry vegans.

I think that's wrong. No, not you giving your daughter a pork sausage (that sounds wrong) but I mean the fact that these veggie options can call it a sausage. A sausage should contain a minimum of xx% meat to qualify being called a 'Sausage'. They (the EU) tried this stunt with British chocolate some years back because it contained a percentage of vegetable fat and that it should be called 'Vege-late'. I've tried veggie 'sausages' a long time again (Linda McCartny's - out of curiosity) and they are in no way a substitute for a proper banger. They are awful. I'd rather eat one of my dog's *****, which look surprising appealing as she has an amount of veg in with her raw food now to bulk it up.

There are levels to being a vegan? Holy cow! I though it was a blanket abstinence where any animal product or by-product was concerned. As for not eating anything that casts a shadow I'm struggling to think of anything other than air. Or maybe that should be air with no moisture in it as it may condense and form tiny clouds that may cast a shadow. Seriously, I would love to encounter some of these air heads, whether it be at a supermarket or my local butcher or fishmonger, as I would be seriously tempted in to goading them in to some kind of action.

Radio 2's Jeremy Vine covered this yesterday (under 'Angry Vegans'). I was listening to it on catch up whilst driving home. It defies belief, it honestly does. The vegan they had on was so anti-meat that he came across as an extremist. This kind of mentality would keep me firmly in the meat eating camp, but not least because if I were confronted by one of these loons I would tell them I choose to be a meat eater because I have made the decision on numerous occasions in the past to shoot an animal for the table. The trouble is you could never have a sensible debate with these idiots as you'd never get past the emotional hogwash they like to spout off.

The modern day e-bikes are restricted to 15mph as anything over that then gets it classed as a moped. Apparently you can buy a dongle which derestricts it giving you full power all the time. For off-road use only though and not to be used on the road as your friendly neighbourhood bobby will be feeling your collar. Oh, yes, we don't have those anymore, do we? Friendly neighbourhood bobbies, I mean, not collars.

The only real difference is the protection of your personal assets being a Limited Company. If someone sues you as a sole trader, for whatever reason, then they can quite literally have the shirt off your back. If they sue the limited company then liability is limited to the company's assets and not yours. Ither than that I think you can pay yourself and any other director up to £5k tax free every year so long as the company's profits allow it, obviously. A bit more paperwork on the Ltd side but a good accountant would be on top of that. But that is it, in a nutshell.

A mate of mine is in to e-bikes and, after a go on one of his, have made a purchase myself. I usually do a fair bit of research before forking out a few quid but have allowed myself to be guided towards one of this years models. It's a Haibike xduro nduro 8.0 2018. I was going to be a little more conservative where getting in to it is concerned but my mate said he is on his third bike as he had the same view as me but wishes he had gone with a better spec to start with. I initially thought they were for people too lazy to put the effort in but they'r really not. Anyone else in to them?

Has anyone had need to get FENSA involved where their replacement windows/doors are concerned? I have problems with mine when they were replaced some 4.5 years back. The bi-fold sounds like a ruddy owl when the wind is in a certain direction and one of the front door hinges has never been smooth, in spite if it being replaced twice. The guy has been out a few times but now it is almost impossible to get him to come and sort it. It's almost like he expects us to be grateful that he has been out a few times and, even though he hasn't managed to sort it, seems to think that's good enough. I called in to his shop before Christmas to find out when he was coming back, as they were ordering yet another hinge following their last visit back in October. He said it would be New Year and guess what...? So now I'm considering contacting FENSA but wondered what good they would be able to. My guess is it's the kind of organisation that he pays his annual dues to every year and they may give him a bit of a telling off but I'd like to hear from anyone who has had any experience with them.

As per the title. Interested to hear how it affects us/you.

Some interesting replies guys. Thank you. For the record, the land is still in the company's name. I checked with LR and purchased title docs, etc. As for my 'friend', he has said to me previously not to contact the receiver as he wants to figure out a way to get it back and then sell it to me so I think that answers where I stand on how I treat him. There is no wife or third party he has sold it to. The land is adjacent to a highway and access would be unrestricted from said highway. There was a building on it previously which was demolished shortly after it was purchased so I don't think planning would be too much of an issue, even though it was an old prefab kind of structure.

I have a bit of a strange situation and would appreciate anyone who is able to give advice on the following. I have come across a small plot of land that is/was owned by a limited company. It's not very big and no way big enough to put a house on, although I would like to try and get it for my office. The company went in to compulsory liquidation in 2002 but for some reason the plot of land was never realised. The complication comes because the person who owned the company think they still own the land, which they clearly don't, and is a friend. I've just done some digging this morning and, so far, come up with three ways I can deal with this. I can re-start a business with the old limited company name and claim the land (which wouldn't go down too well with my friend). I can tell the official receiver they have an unrealised asset and offer them something for it (although it will most likely end up going to auction) I could tell my friend what my plans are and hope he doesn't take it personally or try and beat me to it. Bit of a pickle but any help would be most gratefully received. Possibly even a decent drink if anyone can help me realise this.

Yep. As previously mentioned, trespass is a civil law and not a criminal law. Basically means that the company or individual having trespassers on their property need to take it to court. Old bill won't really be interested unless damage or theft has been reported. Usually most UE-ers will leave when asked as they are not confrontational and are willing to accept responsibility for their own actions.

As per the title really. I have an idea for a charity calendar but have no idea where to start. Ok, I have a bit of an idea but after that. Would I approach a number of charities over the idea to see if they are interested in helping/taking it up or is there another way of getting it sorted? I know PW did one a few years back (or is it every year?). Any help/advice gratefully received.

I don't mind watching it seeing as Mrs H and I did latin and ballroom dancing a few times (we gave it up on account of her dodgy hip). Most of the professional female dancers are very watchable. Given what is usually on offer it's not half bad ("No! It's all bad" I hear you cry). Don't be too quick to criticise someone for their interests, Tightchoke. After all, who's the more sad, the person with the interest or the person who hounds them over it?

Anyone here in to UE? I used to do it some years back, before it had a name, just because we wanted to be nosy parkers as to why nobody would want anyone walking around a dilapidated old building. Unfortunately my exploring buddy now lives in the West Country and haven't done any proper exploring in years. I'm thinking of getting back in to it in some way. There were reports of tunnels under Tunbridge Wells common, one in particular that led from King Charles the Martyr church but I haven't had the opportunity to verify this. If anyone knows of any good or interesting sites/places to explore I'd be keen to learn of them. There are sites/forums that detail sites and have had a look at a few places but I'm curious if their are any on here that have done it.

Mrs H regularly donates items to the PDSA. She gets given loads of things by her clients in the way of clothes/shoes/general stuff they no longer want nor need. Of all the charity shops she's given to they are the least fussy. A local hospice shop pretty much told her to come back the next day as they were just closing (15 minutes until closing, apparently) unless she had anything decent. She told them to get stuffed and would take it elsewhere. Another (Age UK) I would never trust. They were given, amongst other things, a first edition book of mine. By mistake on the part of both Mrs H & myself. Nothing of any great value, probably worth about £20 - £30, but in the short time it took (and I mean less than 2 hours) before I managed to get up there and try and get it back, only to find it was nowhere in site. They hadn't even put the items out but the bags were clearly rifled through so one can only assume one of the staff/volunteers obviously clocked it maybe thought it worth a few bob and so took it for themselves. Other than that I have no need to frequent them

Can any IFA's on here pm me please. Don't really want to air finances in public. Can you include website (if you have one) and credentials/experience in types of investments (such as platforms and SIPPs). Many thanks.